DALGETTY (Dugald,) of Drumthwacket, the union of the soldado with the pedantic student of Mareschal College.  As a soldier of fortune, he is retained in the service of the Earl of Monteith.  The Marquis of Argyll (leader of the parliamentary army) tried to tamper with him in prison, but Dugald siezed him, threw him down, and then made his escape, locking the marquis in the dungeon.  After the battle, Captain Dalgetty was knighted.  This “Ritt-master” is a pedant, very conceited, full of vulgar assurance, with a good stock of worldly knowledge, a student of divinity, and a soldier who lets his sword out to the highest bidder.  The character is original and well drawn.—­Sir W. Scott, Legend of Montrose (time, Charles I.).

The original of this character was Munro, who wrote an account of the campaigns of that band of Scotch and English auxiliaries in the island of Swinemuende, in 1630.  Munro was himself one of the band.  Dugald Dalgetty is one of the best of Scott’s characters.

DALTON (Mrs.), housekeeper to the Rev. Mr. Staunton, of Willingham Rectory.—­Sir W. Scott, Heart of Midlothian (time, George II.).

Dalton (Beginald), the hero of a novel so called, by J. C. Lockhart (1832).

DALZELL (General Thomas), in the royal army of Charles II.—­Sir W. Scott, Old Mortality (1816).

DAME DU LAC, Vivienne le Fay.  The lake was “en la marche de la petite Bretaigne;” “en ce lieu ... avoit la dame moult de belles maisons et moult riches.”

Dame du Lac, Sebille (2 syl.).  Her castle was surrounded by a river on which rested so thick a fog that no eye could see across it.  Alexander the Great abode a fortnight with this fay, to be cured of his wounds, and King Arthur was the result of their amour. (This is not in accordance with the general legends of this noted hero.  See ARTHUR.)—­Perceforest, i. 42.

DAM’IAN, a squire attending on the Grand-Master of the Knights Templars.—­Sir W. Scott, Ivanhoe (time, Richard I.).

DAMIOT’TI (Dr. Baptisti), a Paduan quack, who exhibits “the enchanted mirror” to Lady Forester and Lady Bothwell.  They see therein the clandestine marriage and infidelity of Sir Philip Forester.—­Sir W. Scott, Aunt Margaret’s Mirror (time, William III.).  DAMIS [Dah.me], son of Orgon and Elmire (2 syl.), impetuous and self-willed.—­Moliere, Tartuffe (1664).

DAMN WITH FAINT PRAISE.

  Damn with faint praise, assent with evil leer,
  And without sneering, teach the rest to sneer. 
  Pope, Prologue to the Satires, 201 (1734).

DAMNO’NII, the people of Damnonium, that is, Cornwall, Devon, Dorsetshire, and part of Somersetshire.  This region, says Richard of Cirencester (Hist. vi. 18), was much frequented by the Phoenician, Greek, and Gallic merchants, for the metals with which it abounded, and particularly for its tin.